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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

Everything about a boat is hard...Keels included

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jduck00
Captain

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USA
313 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/10/2014 : 18:22:30

Here are a few pictures of the two week process of getting my keel off, having it blasted, and put back on.

Getting the old keel cable bolt out without braking it took forever. Heat, oil, more heat, oil, and insane amount of heat, oil and it turns a quarter turn. From that point I knew I had it.

I ended up wrapping the keel in fiberglass. It was the roughest casting I've ever seen. Most places would scrap something that looked that bad.

Had a buddy that's a rigger so I got my crane time for almost nothing. It did cost me a bbq lunch for the crew. Nothing like using a 100 ton crane for a 2.5 ton boat.

The boat is back in piece enough for the trip to Florida this Sunday. Still have a lot of work to do when I get there, but at least it will be there.

Click the image for gallery.

[url="https://www.catalina-capri-25s.net/cgi-local/MBR_gallery.cgi?Album+2654+184"]

[/url]

Jeremy Duck
The Lucky Duck
1980 SKSR Hull # 1850

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2014 : 18:43:19

That's impressive. Did you take the opportunity to paint the hull as well? How long did it take you to get the keel prepped & ready to go back on the boat?

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DavidBuoy
Admiral

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USA
707 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2014 : 18:44:07

Sweeet. Can you do mine as well? :) Mine didn't look that nice even before you did the work. Looks great. Nice to be able to use those big boy toys also. Probably a little overkill like you said, but that's half the fun!

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jduck00
Captain

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USA
313 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2014 : 19:19:21

The hull is waiting until Florida. I did hand sand, epoxy coat, and paint the keel trunk and the couple of inches around it.

The keel took about 6 days. The rain slowed me down a bit. I had it blasted and just after we got it dry, I put the first coat of epoxy primer on. I put a second coat on later that day. I wrapped it in 2-3 layers of glass and then epoxy coated again over the top of that. Then it was 2 coats black and 2 coats red of ablative paint. I get to finish the bottom 1/4th of now. I couldn't get to the bottom with it sitting in the cradle I built.

I did get a little frustrated at the CD replacement parts, but then I was just thankful that they were available.

It took 4 hours to install the new winch. I had to dremel on the step bolts quite a bit to get it to fit and operate.

The new cable bolt assembly took some serious grinding. I had to take 3/8" out in front of it and a 1/4" behind it.

The keel hangers had been on for a season, but with all of the added thickness it took another 3 hours of grinding to get them just right, 1/4" off both sides. I looked like crazy for the originals. By the time I got done, the oversized CD castings were about the same as the ones I pulled off a year ago. I did add stainless washers against the keel so the the castings wouldn't scrape the paint off the keel. All of the careful measuring and shaping worked out well. The boat sat down on top of the castings without anything binding.

One is enough David. I had that thought of "I should just burn this thing to the ground and walk away" moment a few times. I need to get out on the water for some therapy.

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2014 : 21:47:28

Heck of a job there Jeremy

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Tomas Kruska
Admiral

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Czech Republic
522 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2014 : 00:53:59

Great project and well done!

That crane is insane

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DavidBuoy
Admiral

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USA
707 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2014 : 05:05:56

Question. How did you treat in the hole where the hinge pin goes?

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2014 : 06:36:25

Great pics Jeremy!

Just an FYI: It's a good idea to add titles and captions, it adds context to the pics when seen in an Album.

Plus... I'm working on an Image Search option and the search will look for the text in either the Title or Caption.

More on this as it progresses.

Paul

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jduck00
Captain

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USA
313 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2014 : 07:31:59

David, I thought about that quite a bit to. Can't paint in the hole really. The pin would just rub it off. The factory hole wasn't worn, but was about 1-1/8" in diameter. I thought about installing the stainless bushing from CD, but I didn't want to get into that project just yet.

I have had the boat in fresh water, and the grease has worked well so far. When I pulled it apart, I didn't have any rust from being in the water for a year. So, I packed it full of water resistant grease and put tight fitting washers on either side of the keel. There shouldn't be anywhere for the grease to go. I'll know next year when I pull it out to see how its doing.

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pastmember
Master Marine Consultant

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2402 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2014 : 08:28:45

That ought to give you some cred around the neighborhood!

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.